1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a mechanism that utilizes compressed air to feed aquarium fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, devices that employed compressed air to feed aquarium fish have suffered from some shortcomings. For example, in a device described by Muller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,399), fish are required to enter a "feeding station" in order to feed. Since the feeding station lies within the parameters of the device, one problem with Muller's invention is that aggressive and dominant fish can prevent less aggressive fish from feeding by excluding these fish from the feeding station.
Further, with Muller's invention, there is the problem of feeding certain non-pelletized fish food such as frozen fish food. This is because frozen fish food, after assuming its thawed out (edible) state, becomes light enough that, were such food employed in Muller's device, it would readily drift out of the feeding station and into the aquarium at large at an uncontrollable rate. This would present the problem of fish not having time to consume the food before it settled to the tank's bottom becoming lost between the gravel or grains of sand.
Another air-driven feeding device, Munker (German Patent: DT 2421-626), is deficient in another way. Munker's feeding device relies on in flowing water to keep fish food dispersed and suspended inside a reservoir. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Munker's system of using only in flowing water (and not bubbles as well) would be enough to keep many popular fish foods from "clumping together" inside the reservoir, as opposed to exiting the reservoir at a preferred, controlled rate.